You're nobody 'til somebody kills you

Eighteen

I picked Jerry up and as we walked to the parking lot I explained the situation. He drove the Caddy, and I was impressed that he remembered the way to Danny’s office. When I asked Jerry to park in front of Danny’s building he insisted on parking down the street, “Just in case.”

We walked back to Danny’s office. The downstairs door was unlocked, but that wasn’t unusual. We also found the upstairs door unlocked, which it usually was during business hours.

“You got your gun?” I asked Jerry.

“You bet.” He pulled his jacket aside to show me the.45 under his arm, but he didn’t draw it.

As we entered we saw the outer office was empty.

“Penny?” I called. She could have been in Danny’s office, but there was no answer. Jerry went and checked it anyway.

“Empty,” he said. “Maybe she went out for tea?”

Again I was impressed that he remembered Penny drank tea. It had taken me years to get that straight.

“Maybe, but …”

“But what?”

“Somethin’ doesn’t feel right.”

“Like what?”

I walked to Danny’s office and looked inside. The top of his desk was a mess. Danny always said his desk looked like the inside of his head.

On the other hand, Penny’s desk was always clean and neat. Only now there were letters sprawled across it and pencils strewn about, rather than in her pencil mug.

“Somebody took her,” I said.

“How do you know?”

I pointed at her desk and explained. “She’s sendin’ us a message.”

Jerry walked to the window and stared down at Fremont Street. Then he looked directly across, at the windows on the other side of the street.

“I don’t see nothin’.” He turned to face me. “Whataya wanna do? Call the cops?”

“I wouldn’t know what to tell them,” I said. “Her desk is a little messy. What would that mean to them? Besides, a great man once told me no good ever came from callin’ the cops,” I added, quoting him.

“You know where she lives?” Jerry asked.

“No.”

“Well, we can find the address somewhere here,” he said.

I scratched my head.

“I guess we should check her place. She’s probably listed in the phone book.”

We looked around, located the phone book and looked up her number. I dialed and she answered on the second ring.

“Penny?”

“Eddie? Where are you?”

“Your office. I thought-”

“You thought what? I’m upset, I didn’t want to sit in the office all day. I’m not going in until Danny comes back. Eddie, what’s going on? Why didn’t you call me when you got back?”

“Penny, I came lookin’ for you at the office. When I saw the mess on your desk I thought … I thought you were missing, too.”

“That’s sweet, Eddie, that you were worried, but I’m fine. I just left in a hurry. I had to get out of there.”

“I understand, honey.”

“You call me as soon as you know something, you hear me?”

“I will, Penny,” I said. “I promise.”

I hung up and looked at Jerry.

“We goin’ ta L.A.?”

I rubbed my face.

“We’d have to get our plane tickets pretty quick-”

“How long would it take to drive?” he asked.

“Drive?”

“Yeah,” Jerry said. “By the time we buy tickets, get to the airport, get on a plane-”

“It’s only about two hundred and fifty miles,” I told him.

“Hell, in your Caddy? We can do that in under three hours.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s find the name of the motel where Danny was staying. Then we’ll pack the car and head right out.”

We started searching for the information we needed. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to call Penny again. Finally, we found the motel name and address on her desk calendar.

We drove to my house so I could pack, then went to the Sands to get Jerry’s suitcase. After that we went down to the parking lot and tossed the bags in the back of the car.

“I get to drive, right?”

I nodded.

“You get to drive, big guy.”